Given the coaching strategies implemented in this game, it will be a small miracle if we pull it out.
What did he do wrong this game? With the exception of letting Norris stay in one batter too long, he managed the bullpen quite well. It could also be argued that since the general consensus is that the Astros aren't going anywhere this year, he SHOULD have left Norris in to try to work himself out of the jam that was not all his doing. Although I don't agree with Altuve bunting (either time), it was a conventional move in both instances and in the first case, led to a run.
I didn't even see the game cause of work, but when I looked at the box and saw 7 pitchers used I just had a laugh, that crazy mills.
He put in Lopez for Norris. Lopez threw one pitch and got out of the inning. He pinch hit for Lopez. He then used a series of right-left combinations the following inning and finally Myers for the ninth. Nothing crazy about it, especially considering it worked. I think many fans thought "that crazy Mills", when he did not uses a left hander to pitch to Votto the previous game.
Actually no. When your left handers are Wesley Wright walking over half the people he faces, and Fernando Abad I get crushed by lefties and righties, you don't make that move. Heck, in the first game of the Reds series, he did bring in the lefty to face the lefty Bruce, and Bruce took him deep. You want to know where Mills went wrong? 1) Using Wilton Lopez for one pitch. Knowing that he had the pitchers spot coming up, he should have made a double switch since he was going to be pinch hitting anyways. 2) Putting Wright/Abad into a tie game. At least Lyon has a proven track record. At least he didn't use them beyond one batter. 3) Bunting with Altuve 4) Using 5 pitchers to get 4 outs is unacceptable in a tie ball game. If we don't win the game in 9, we are screwed. Cruz is injured, and that is why he hasn't been pitching. Carpenter was the only arm left. I can't stand that he won't define bullpen roles other than Myers as the closer.
Why do you say Wright doesn't have a proven track record? Left handed hitters were 1-26 last year (with 4 walks) and so far are 0-13 (2 walks) this year.
Yeah, he has I had defended him early on this year, but the walks wore on me (obviously his numbers have improved in the past week). Using exclusively against Lefties has worked for him though. The sample size still isn't big enough for me to not keep Wilton Lopez in the game to face the heart of the order.
I was a bit surprised he didn't do the double switch, especially since Martinez was available to swap out with Buck or Bogusevic. I assume he had his mind made up that he was going to go left-right-left in the 8th.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Elias is reporting that last night was the 1st time in MLB history that 7 different pitchers (Astros) faced 7 cons. hitters (Mets). Wow.</p>— Brett Dolan (@Astrosradio) <a href="https://twitter.com/Astrosradio/status/197391124707549187" data-datetime="2012-05-01T18:24:46+00:00">May 1, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So what happens if they end up in extra innings? Poor, poor management by Mills. He's losing points with me with each passing game.
But they DIDN'T end up in extra innings. Generally, you have to manage for the moment. Had he played in order to have a couple of pitchers available for extra innings, they might have lost. As it is, they won and the bullpen wasn't taxed so everyone should also be available tonight. Geez, a manager makes a number of moves that turned out to be successful (albeit perhaps unorthodox) AND contributed to a winning effort AND did not hurt them for the following game and folks complain.
If unorthodox managing was winning us those 1 run games we've sucked at all year, he'd get a pass, but it hasn't. I understand the moves if Houston had the lead. They didn't.
Has any Houston manager made consistently "good" decisions? I'd guess no matter who the manager is, whether it be Joe Torre or Tony Larussa or some newbie scrub, if we watched them every day, we'd find tons of decisions that people would be critical of. It just seems the nature of the job. You either manage like a robot, or any unconventional decision you make will be criticized.
I miss Garner. Every time I got mad at him and was thinking WTF, it worked out. I like Dierker, though he left his pitchers out there too long.
